Break-ups: The Gamits (1995-2004)

The Gamits sent out the following:

Hey everybody. Chris here. The Gamits are
calling it quits. Yes, it's true. There are many
reasons for this happening. Mainly it is just
time to move on.

The band released their final record, Antidote earlier this year.
To read Chris' full statement, click Read More.

Hey everybody. Chris
here. The Gamits are calling it quits. Yes, it’s true. There
are many reasons for this happening. Mainly it is just time to
move on. As many of you know there have been a few different people
in this band over the years and I am the only original member.
Here is a list of everyone who has played in this band; Matt Vanleuven
( bass mostly and drums at one point ) Matt Martinez ( bass )
Forrest Bartosh ( drums ) Scott Weigel ( bass ) Luke Mathers (bass
) Brian Pentagram ( drums ) Scott Swarers ( bass ) and Jason Walker
( drums ). I would like to thank every one of you for being in
the band even if it was just for a couple weeks or a couple years.
I will hold back from thanking anyone specifically except band
members because if I thank one person I have to thank about 500.
Ok, I will make one exception and thank Virgil Dickerson because
he was always been my right hand man and has supported the Gamits
through thick and thin.

The current line up worked very
hard and helped to put out what I believe to be the best album
we ever did. (Antidote) It received overwhelmingly good reviews
and has hopefully left its own little mark on this music scene.
For that I am very proud. This band, all line ups included, afforded
me and everyone involved to travel all over Europe, Japan, Canada
and the United States many times. I’ll never forget these
experiences, good and bad, for as long as I live. There is no
way to thank everyone in every country for every meal, bed, show,
tour, or beer but if we could we would let you all crash at our
houses and buy you about 50,000 drinks. Being in a band like ours
can take its toll on you after awhile. I’m sure many of
you can relate, as almost everyone I know is in a band. We started
in 1995 on a tiny label and stayed on an independent label to
this day. The Gamits were never the punkest band in the world
but we were extremely DIY when it came to our music. It was written,
produced, and recorded by us in the studio that we built from
scratch. (8 Houses Down) For all of this I am very proud as well.
Who knows what could have happened to the Gamits if we would have
taken a different approach. I don’t want to turn this into
a whole speech about the current state of punk rock, but let’s
just say that nobody in this band ever sat around and talked about
how we were going to make it big or sign to a major label. It
seems like that’s all anybody cares about anymore. Kids
these days sometimes look down on you if you aren’t on a
major label. They think you must suck or something. This is very
backwards and it’s in a scene like this that bands like
ours get eaten up. Not only that, but lots of good bands who don’t
know any better sign to a major and they get screwed. Music in
general suffers. The state of this scene really has nothing to
do with the Gamits demise. I just wanted to get in my two cents
about "punk rock" today because I know a lot of people
will be reading this. For the most part the scene is anything
but "punk." Most of the bands seem to sound the same
and it’s more trendy and corporate than I ever thought it
could be. I hope that it turns around soon. It has to.
With all that said we will continue to play music in other bands
/ projects that you will hopefully be hearing about soon.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have never
bought a Gamits record, do yourself and us a favor and go get
"Antidote" and see what you were missing!

- the gamits

The Gamits will be playing a number
of shows in December with their friends from Japan, Link. We will
have the dates posted on our website and on the Gamits website
soon, but these will be their final shows.